‘Have wild crazy monkey sex with the first man you bump into.’ Roisin Grant hadn’t intended to follow her best friend’s advice – but, sometimes, what you expect from life and what you get don’t match up. She never expected her husband would have a stash of home-made porn movies, with him in the starring role, or that he would die and leave her bankrupt. And she never expected to be faced with asset-stripper Saul Mathews and a choice. Walk away from her home and equestrian business, or call his bluff and help him deliver riding lessons of an altogether different kind.

‘I’d kill the bastard if he was my husband.’

‘Yeah, so would I –’ Roisin leant over and sloshed another generous measure of Toby’s best scotch into Sam’s glass ‘– if he wasn’t already dead.’

‘Sorry? He’s what? For a moment there you said …’ For the first time since they’d sat down she actually had Sam’s attention. All of it. ‘Jesus, you did, didn’t you?’ There was silence for a moment, while Sam peered into her glass as if for inspiration, which, when it came, just had to have been alcohol-induced. ‘Shit, he didn’t – you know, die in the middle of …?’

‘Sam!’

‘Sorry, it’s just I once saw this film where the guy had a heart attack while he was …’

‘Sam, will you shut up? I’m so glad my mind doesn’t work like yours, it must be scary.’

‘You don’t mean someone …?’

‘I wish.’ Roisin grimaced and took a good gulp from her own glass, which did more than hit the spot, it almost annihilated it. ‘Well, no, I don’t even wish, though it would make it easier.’ She spluttered as the scotch burnt its way down her throat, leaving it dry. No, she couldn’t wish him actually dead, even if she was drunk, which was a bit of a bummer. ‘No, it was just a heart attack, probably too much excitement.’ She swirled the remaining liquid, watching it crawl up the edge of the glass.

‘Wow.’ Sam gaped at her for a moment. ‘You don’t mean …? There wasn’t more than one, was there?’ Her gaze had switched back to the laptop, which was doing its best to illuminate the whole room.

‘Oh yeah, there was more than one.’ She almost laughed; almost. Even when she was well on the way to drunk it wasn’t funny, though, not yet. Maybe in another zillion years or so. And nor had it been the slightest bit funny finding the home movie when she’d been sorting out his office; or, rather, the collection of home movies. Toby, it seemed, was quite a collector.

‘So I was almost right first time. But –’ Sam’s silences said as much as her words ‘– it’s just I wouldn’t have thought that he …’

‘Had it in him?’

‘Well, erm, you know he isn’t – he wasn’t exactly …’ Sam’s voice tailed off and she downed her drink in a kind of awed silence, still staring at the frozen image on the laptop.

Roisin had to admit it was kind of mesmerising, seeing him in glorious Technicolor with a look of uninhibited pleasure on his face. Mesmerising and weird because it just wasn’t – well, it wasn’t Toby. The Toby she knew hadn’t exactly been stud material; he wasn’t hot, or even lukewarm, not even by her standards, which Sam assured her were pretty low. Toby had just been Toby: normal, slightly boring, slightly pompous Toby. Her husband.

And she’d already spent far too many hours staring at him humping away on the screen; she’d only shared the movie because it was easier than trying to explain. She jabbed at the eject button and the DVD jumped out, clattering with finality onto the table.

Sam gave a guilty start. ‘Sorry, I just don’t know what to say.’

Ah, those words you just never think you’ll hear, and voilà, there they are. In a “you couldn’t make it up” type of situation. This was the point when she should be able to press the rewind button and relive this part of her life.

Damn. She took a more cautious sip of whisky. ‘Don’t worry, nor do I.’ It had been one thing to find out that her shit of a husband had been having an affair, or more likely several consecutive affairs, since the day they had taken that long walk up the aisle. Bad enough to see that lousy DVD of the clammy-handed idiot having his silly little cock sucked by some platinum blonde with bare boobs that looked like they were about to explode from implant overload. Faintly nauseating to see those long, red talons rake over his puny, pale body. But it was quite another thing, and so, so much worse, that the bastard had had the temerity to drop down dead before she could tell him she knew. That was the bit that really wound her up. That, and the look of pure satisfaction that had been shining on his sweaty face as he’d shot his load all over the poor girl’s triple-Ds. She gave a shudder; what a bloody mess. In more ways than one; which should be funny except that right now it was just adding insult to injury.

She live in a country cottage in the UK and loves her family, sexy high heels, sunshine, good food and wine, coffee, cats, horses, dogs, music, writing and reading - but not necessarily in that order! She likes her heroes just how she likes her coffee – hot, strong and moreish.

Riding High by Zara Stoneley is a super sexy and highly erotic novella. It is a fast-paced story that will set your eReader on fire.

Roisin Grant and Saul Mathews have so much emotional baggage that there is little room for their burgeoning relationship. Roisin has serious trust issues in the wake of her husband\'s death. Not only did he cheat on her and film himself doing it, but he also left her with a huge mountain of debt. A one night stand is very much out of character for her, but Roisin finds her attraction to the very attractive and tremendously sexy Saul impossible to resist.

No stranger to betrayal, Saul is still dealing with the aftereffects of his failed marriage. His divorce not only left emotional scars, but it also caused financial setbacks as well. Although Saul very rarely indulges in casual flings, his desire for Roisin is too powerful to ignore and they share one passionate night together.

But things get complicated for Saul and Roisin pretty quickly when they discover they share a business connection. Roisin is prickly and prone to jumping to conclusions. She is suspicious of Saul\'s motives and she is incredibly indecisive. Saul is a pretty straight forward character but his past problems with his ex-wife do play a role in his relationship with Roisin. Adding further conflict to their already troubled relationship are the Daddy issues that neither Roisin and Saul have dealt with.

Riding High is a very exhausting read. Their sex life is wonderful, but outside the bed? Roisin and Saul are an absolute mess. Just when it appears they have resolved their differences, another one pops up. Their communication skills are abysmal and both of them are guilty of assuming the worst about the other. Their relationship was on again/off again so often that I wondered if they would ever figure out a way to stay together.

The sex scenes in Riding High are scorching hot, varied and frequent. The chemistry between Saul and Roisin is sizzling and their sex encounters reflect their intense attraction. There is little Saul and Roisin won\'t try as they experiment with phone sex, masturbation, voyeurism and a little BDSM play. Saul and Roisin indulge in one-time M/F/M ménage that is positively incendiary.

Overall, Riding High is an enjoyable read. Zara Stoneley does a fabulous job keeping the ending realistic given the amount of conflict between them. I am very intrigued by one of the secondary characters, James, and I am crossing my fingers that there is a future book planned for him.

I received a complimentary copy for review.

Reviewed by: Emma on 10th December 2012 4:31PM

This book was brilliant I did not want to put it down . I was loving the not knowing what was going to happen brilliant book.